The Empire of the Sky
by TheFlyingEmperor
Summary: Ever since Eagle left the Sky Kingdom, he never regretted a single bit of it. The other SkyWings were complete nitwits, and extremely mean to him too. He was an aspiring inventor, anyway. He didn't need them. So when he finds something that could let him rule, what should he do about it? This is both the Prequel and Sequel of Attack Of The Scavengers, and follows the same plot.
1. Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Inside the SkyWing hatchery, eggs were hatching. One by one, the tiny dragonets broke through their eggs and stepped out into the outside world, where their parents embraced them with their talons. Soon, all of the eggs hatched. All of them, that is, except for one.

Suddenly, a crack appeared on the egg. The crack grew larger and larger, until it spread across the egg, and all of the sudden, the egg exploded into a million shards. And there stood a tiny dragonet, with strange coloring. Its back was lined with golden scales, and its underscales were a bright crimson, like the bloodshed of a massive battle. It climbed out of the shattered egg, talons wobbling and shaking. His father was overcome with joy as he hugged his newborn dragonet. Little would he know that this very tiny dragonet would change the world as he knew it, and would create the first and greatest empire ever created in Pyrrhia. This was the beginning, the very beginning, of the Empire of the Sky, which would become the largest empire ever to exist on Pyrrhia. And that tiny dragonet would be the ruler of it all.

~~~~6 years later~~~~

Eagle stomped down the hallway, playfully chasing his laughing classmate down the hall, who had taken his shield when they were play-fighting. He took flight, chasing him down to the very bottom of the stairs, where the encountered a very angry looking SkyWing queen.

"Q-queen Scarlet!" his classmate said worriedly. "I-I didn't expect you t-to be here!"

"Please forgive my classmate," Eagle said calmly. He grabbed his shield from his classmate's shaking claws. "Thank you, _friend,_ and Queen Scarlet, I'm sorry for bothering you."

"Wait just one moment," Queen Scarlet said slyly. "What are you _thrilling_ little dragons doing here, all alone?"

"Are we in trouble?" asked his classmate. "Because my mommy wants me to eat dinner soon, and if we get detention, then I'll miss supper!"

Eagle rolled his eyes. _"Idiot,"_ he thought, " _If he had a brain, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Meanwhile, my inventions are things that are actually worth using time for, unlike this silly nonsense!"_

He didn't notice Queen Scarlet intently tapping his shoulder.

"What do you want?!" he snapped. He widened his eyes when he saw Scarlet's disapproving eyes gaze down at him. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. You see, I thought you were my classmate, and-"he started.

"No worries, it's fine." Queen Scarlet said. "Although, can you please join me to watch the _thrilling_ arena battles?"

"Sorry, your Majesty, but-"

"Oh no, I insist." She grabbed his arm pleadingly and made a false pleading face. "I would be _heartbroken_ if you didn't attend."

" _What have I got myself into?"_ he worried. He forced a smile. "Uh, sure!" he said. He walked alongside Queen Scarlet as she almost dragged him towards the arena.

Scarlet squealed with glee. "Oh, how _thrilling_ it must be to go to the arena the first time!" She looked at Eagle. "Speaking of which, is this your first time to the arena?"

" _No."_ he thought. "Yes." he lied.

"Well then, this is a _thrilling_ opportunity to experience it then!" she said, adding fake cheerfulness in her voice. "We're here!"

" _Three moons,"_ he thought _, "this place is massive!"_

"VERMILION, COME OVER HERE!" Scarlet ordered.

"Y-yes mother, right away." he stammered.

" _Poor dragon,"_ Eagle thought. _"He must be overcome with fear, with such a mean mother. I wonder how he copes. Perhaps I should observe how he reacts and deals with things. It could help me with my brain studies, but then I would probably need to observe more than his reactions-"_ He was snapped out of his thoughts by Prince Vermilion announcing the battle.

"Announcing, Peril of the SkyWings!" he yelled. Thunderous applause followed, and Eagle saw a young SkyWing walk into the arena. "And for the opposing side, Clay of the MudWings!" The crowd booed when Vermilion said the name, and he saw a burly MudWing walk into the arena. "Yes, yes, calm down." He gazed up to the crowd. "Now... fight!"

Eagle watched the two dragons circle each other. Soon after what seemed like an eternity, the MudWing pinned Peril on the ground. He didn't kill her. _"Strange,"_ he thought, _"doesn't he care more about freedom than honor? And how is he pinning her down? Doesn't she have firescales? I need to investigate further; this could help me with my armor-"_ His train of thought was again interrupted, this time by a massive commotion. He had just enough time to turn his head before he saw the blob venom hit Scarlet's face. _Drip. Drop._ And then Scarlet's face began to melt. He saw Burn quickly flap away, with the rest of the arena following them. He tried to resist the urge to grab one of Scarlet's scales to research them.

" _I could learn so much! I could learn what causes it, and how to neutralize it! All I need to know is what it's composed of, and then I could observe it, and find what makes it melt stuff and what it can do and I can even find out how to replicate it! All I need to do is take a scale..."_ he reached a shaking talon towards her scales. _"Wait; better use my new research tool."_

He quickly flipped out his metal pincers that he used to study objects without distorting their original quality, and picked a venom-covered scale off the ground, as Queen Scarlet was clawing scales off her face. _"YES!"_ he thought. He put it in his bag, and it burned right through. _"Shoot,"_ he thought, _"I need to find how to transport it..."_ He eyed a vase. _"It doesn't seem to burn through stuff that doesn't come from an animal. I know for certain that metal can withstand it, but I wonder if the vase can..."_ He dropped the scale in it. Perfect, it worked!

He quickly flew off, and he heard Queen Scarlet screaming behind him. "YOU COME BACK HERE! AAAAAHHHHHHH!" she yelled. Eagle rolled his eyes. Screw her, he never liked her anyway. He continued to fly across the plains, and eyed Peril and that MudWing holding talons, along with a collection of various other dragons from other tribes. He also saw the dragon that spit the venom on Scarlet. It was a RainWing.

" _How curious."_ he thought. _"What am I doing?" I shouldn't be thinking of experimenting on anyone! They have rights and families, no, I shouldn't be thinking of doing such horrible things!"_

He shook his head, and flapped his powerful wings. He flew south, headed to the Mud Kingdom. _"Wait, almost forgot my scientific instruments,"_ he thought. He turned around, headed for the castle, and saw a fire rise from a tower. He watched another tower collapse, crushing 2 SkyWings, and also pushing over another tower.

After a while, he also eyed a SkyWing caught between the stump of a collapsed tower and the collapsed tower itself. "Wait, I'll help you!" he yelled. He pulled out a knife from his bag, and hacked at the tower as an attempt to free the SkyWing. _"No use,"_ he thought. Just then, he eyed a few scavengers passing by with long sharp objects, and they started hacking away at the stone tower. Surprisingly, the rock fell off, bit by bit, as they continued hacking.

He eyed a stick, and used some extra rope to secure the knife to the stick to imitate the scavenger design, and he also tried to imitate what they were doing. It worked, in that it broke stone quite efficiently. Now he observed the tower. The tower was about to fall into a ravine, and half of it already fell into it. He saw the wooden frame inside of the tower, and eyed the angle of the fallen tower. The tower was far from tipping over into the ravine, so he flew into the tower, and a beam almost crushed him as it fell. He found the approximate spot where the SkyWing was stuck, and started to hack at the stone. It gave way. "By the brightest night, I never thought I would say this, but scavengers are BRILLIANT!" he said. He saw the SkyWing, and realized that it was a girl.

"I'm here to help you." said Eagle. He reached out a talon. She grabbed it, and he realized she was panting and out of breath. Most likely, she was winded. He helped her out of the tower, and watched as it fell into the ravine. He eyed it curiously. _"I thought it wouldn't collapse into the ravine!"_ He then eyed the dirt underneath it, and understood. _"How can I be such a nitwit? It's obvious; according to my studies, the stability of a structure relies on the foundation! The fallen tower must have weakened the dirt, and therefore weakened the overall foundation!"_

The SkyWing he was supporting gasped, and he put her on a rock. "You okay?" he asked. She nodded. "What's your name?"

"My name is Appalachia." she answered.

Eagle grinned. "My name is Eagle. What happened?" he asked.

She sighed. "My family... well, there was a huge fire in all that panic that somebody lit, and my family helped me out of there. They didn't make it." Tears started to brim her eyes as she thought back to what happened before.

Eagle gave her a pitying look. "Hey, don't feel bad. You know, my dad was the only one that knew how I felt. Everyone else just looked at me like I was some abomination." He thought back to his younger years and clenched his talons into fists. Those stupid dragons, making fun of him because of his color, of all things! It was just natural, yet he was discriminated for it! He stamped his foot, not realizing that he was doing so. And then he felt sad about how he never got a chance to say goodbye before he left the Sky Kingdom. His father was probably miles away now.

He realized that Appalachia was looking at him intently, as if he had changed from a spear into a shield. "Perhaps we're more similar than we thought." she said.

Eagle nodded. "Perhaps."


	2. Chapter 2: Of Those Who Blister

Chapter 2: Of those who Blister

"Tell me again, why are we here?" Appalachia asked.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, WE'RE HERE TO PICK UP MY STUDYING EQUIPMENT, SO DON'T ASK AGAIN, JEEZ!" Eagle said, clearly annoyed.

Appalachia chuckled. "Sorry, just asking."

"Yeah, for like the 10th time!"

She shrugged. "Who cares? There's nowhere left for us..." She trailed off as she felt an empty feeling come back to her, and her wings drooped for a moment before she lifted them back up.

Eagle ignored her. "Well, here we are! This is my last sample." He took a tiny vase with a cap into his bag. "Now we can go." He lifted off to the air, with Appalachia right behind him. "You know, you don't have to follow me."

She grinned. "Yeah, I know." She nudged his wing and laughed as he struggled to recover in the sky. "So, where are we headed next?" She asked.

"Well, now that I think of it, I want to study scavengers and how they deal with the sea, so we're headed to the Kingdom of the Sea. And based on what happened earlier, scavengers are probably pretty smart and they could help with my inventions." he answered.

"Ha!" she laughed. "You can't communicate with scavengers, how are they going to help you?!"

Eagle shrugged. "Well, I meant like observing their movements and such. Like that scavenger invention that helped you out of the rock. I watched scavengers and learned how to make it. I really think that scavengers are pretty smart, and they have different ways to cope in the world. I'm really fascinated..."

"Hey, right now you need to worry about yourself. Besides, which species is dominant in Pyrrhia, Scavengers or dragons?" Appalachia asked.

"Hey, I learned a lot from scavengers!" he retorted. "They have a lot of structures that overcome a lot of the struggles that dragons have!"

"Yeah right." she said.

"I'm right! Besides, I cross-sectioned some scavenger stuff and tested others and some of them are made up of some foreign metal that's really hard! If we could find how to get it..." he continued.

"Hey, scavengers are stupid."

"They are not!"

"It's obvious they are stupid."

"They're not!"

"It's too obvious. Then how do you explain scavengers standing up to the caves of dragons and asking to die?" she asked.

"W-well, uh, you see, if I can study them when they're calm, and well, uh, maybe it's a character thing?" he tried.

Appalachia snorted. "What kind of prey just stands up to their predator and say, "EAT ME!"?"

Eagle shrugged. "Well, maybe they don't think of dragons as predators."

"Well that still doesn't explain why they walk up to dragons and point their sharp stuff at us." she said.

"Maybe they're challenging us, or maybe they're just, I don't know, I'd have to make a whole research scroll about this!" Eagle said, waving his arms around. "The only way I could know is if I can see and find out how scavenger culture works, like how you study other things! Find out how it works and try to replicate it!"

Appalachia shrugged. "Well, if I'm planning to follow you, I have to sit through your stupid scavenger studies, don't I."

Eagle smirked at her. "I guess you do."

"Well, I better be ready for a long ride." She revealed a bag that was tucked under her arm."

"What's in there?" he asked.

She blushed. "Well, to be honest, I didn't really want to show you that, so..."

"Come on, show me!" he said, pressuring her."

"I really don't want to..." she said quietly.

"Come on, show me!" he continued.

"Fine." she said, defeated. "I was really into plants and stuff when I was little, so this is a collection of my notes and studies on different plants and what they do. I mean, I try to like, cultivate plants or something, and I'm currently studying how to mass-cultivate plants to like, eat or something, so please don't make fun of me..." she whispered.

Eagle smiled at her. "Hey, I do stuff like that too, so don't feel bad."

She brightened. "You mean it?"

He shrugged. "Well, if you don't make fun of me, I won't make fun of you."

"That's a deal." She held out a talon. "Friends?" she asked.

"Alright then, friends." He shook her talon.

She smiled sheepishly. "So... maybe we should be partners?"

Eagle widened his eyes. "You mean... mating partners?" he asked worriedly.

She laughed. "Oh no, none of that! I meant like research partners."

Eagle breathed a sigh of relief. "Sure." he said.

~~~~3 hours later~~~~

"We're here!" said Eagle happily.

"You mean the Sea Kingdom? I thought we were already here!" Appalachia said.

"Well, we weren't where I wanted to be." he answered. "Hey look, a scavenger settlement!" he said quickly.

"Where?" she said quickly, looking around.

"There!" Eagle said before pushing her into the sea.

"AAH!" she shrieked. She splashed into the water, and a massive wave drenched Eagle, pulling him in as well. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" she asked.

He giggled. "I don't know, I just felt like it, but there actually is a scavenger settlement over there." He suddenly remembered about his scrolls and so flapped up and checked them. Thankfully, the leather bag kept out the water. He helped Appalachia out of the water. "Check your scrolls!" he said.

Appalachia gasped. "Three moons, I almost forgot about this!" She flipped out a flower from her bag. "I found out that if you give different foods and liquids to plants, they can change how the plant develops!"

"So you mean... that's an abomination?" Eagle said.

Appalachia looked offended. "I guess you could say that?" she answered. "Anyway, I found that some things make them grow faster, and some also make them taste different." She held out the flower to Eagle. "I tried that method on this flower. Smell it."

Eagle smelled it. It did smell good. He kissed her on the cheek, and she blushed. "Thanks for the flower Appalachia." he said, also blushing.

She smiled shyly. "I-I'm glad you like It." she said, looking away.

Suddenly, a group of dragons approached them. "Hide!" said Eagle. He pointed to a small scavenger settlement. "There!" He quickly flew towards it, and ducked behind a rotating machine with a small waterfall running through it. Appalachia ducked right beside him.

"Is the coast clear?" she asked.

Eagle squinted. "Is that... Princess Blister?" he asked.

Appalachia looked over his shoulder. "You're right!" she shrieked.

"Well, after this I want to know why the scavengers built this thing. It seems too complicated to be just a decorative building, and-"he started.

"Oh, come on, you're worrying about that kind of stuff now?!" she said.

"You know you would want to study a new type of plant if you saw it." Eagle responded.

Appalachia rolled her eyes. "Fine, but be quick about it."

Eagle smiled, and flipped out a blank scroll from his bag. "Alright, the structure has a rotating wheel type object along the river..." he said, and drew the building in his scroll, and started labeling the different parts of the building. He then looked on the other side. "Hey Appalachia, does this look like a door to you?" he asked.

She looked at the object. "I guess it does... try opening it."

Eagle quickly opened the door object, and it came off. He gazed inside, and a scavenger ran out, screaming something. He continued looking inside, and drew the inside on his scroll. "Alright, so this is turning beam connected to the rotating wheel, am I right?" he asked.

Appalachia snorted. "Whatever."

He ignored her, and poked the turning beam. "Ah, now I get it! The river drives the wheel which drives this beam thing! But what does this thing do? I need to get a closer look." He poked his head through the opening, and saw a stone object crushing some wheat grains in a stone bowl. "Hey Appalachia, you recognize these grains?" he asked.

Appalachia looked at the grains. "Seem to be wheat grains. As far as I know, they aren't edible. But there are many other plants that seem to heal if you ground them up and eat them, and maybe, just maybe, other foods ground up taste better too?" she suggested.

Eagle scribbled some notes on his scroll. "Alright then, so the machine thing uses the river to turn the wheel thingy which has baskets on it to carry water, and the wheel thingy turns a wooden beam, which rotates a round stone thing that crushes anything that you put in it against a stone bowl, which turns it into powder!"

Appalachia stared at him with wide eyes. "U-uh, sure!" she said. "Hey, I have a theory."

"What is it?" Eagle asked.

"Alright, so I found that wet stuff rots faster than dry stuff. So maybe, by crushing food, it won't rot because the crushed stuff doesn't have any water!" she responded.

"Ah! I get your logic! The round stone thing squeezes out the water! Brilliant!" Eagle said.

"Not exactly what I mean, but sure!" Appalachia said. She took out a scroll with things already written on it. "Alright, I'll write it in my theories scroll. Crushed stuff might not rot and so can be kept in a place longer..."

"Hey, what if you add water to crushed stuff?" Eagle asked.

"I don't know! Hey, I could write that in my ideas scroll too!" Appalachia then continued to scribble things on her scroll, and then she pulled out another scroll and wrote in that one too. "Finished!" she declared. "You got the overall construction of this thing, right?" she asked.

"Don't worry, I got it." He looked at his scroll. "Alright, yeah, I got down the overall structure and how it works."

Appalachia grinned at him. "Then I guess we're all set!" She placed her scroll in her bag, and Eagle followed suit.

Suddenly, a loud thump was heard behind them. "Where do you think you little dragonets are going?" A sly voice said behind them.

Eagle widened his eyes. "Princ- I mean, Queen Blister!" he said quickly.

Blister smiled at them creepily. "Ah, _yesss,_ how polite." she said articulately.

Eagle bowed down, and Appalachia followed.

"Tell me, where do you cute little _dragonets_ plan to go?" she asked. She spat out the word dragonets like it was poison.

"Uh, Queen Blister, we plan to, uh, head back to the Sky Kingdom!" he lied.

" _Yesss_... why don't you stay here and... have a chat with my soldiers? Guards, take... care of these _dragonets_ , please?" she said leisurely. Two guards clamped their talons on the dragonets' shoulders.

" _Yeah, well, I guess these guards don't exactly do that type of "leisurely" care. What's that on her neck?"_ he thought. A necklace! _"Yes! I wonder what it's made of. Maybe it's a material I can study! Hey, maybe I can position the sun directly so that it would blind her guards' eyes! Would that work? It seems pretty shiny, probably pure gold. I wonder where she got it from. Oh well, I don't get the leisure of knowing that, now do I?"_ He waved to Blister. "Hey, could you just stand over there?" He pointed to a sunny spot.

Blister rolled her eyes. " _Sssure..."_ she said. She walked over to the spot.

" _Shoot! She isn't facing the right way! If she turns all the way around, one of those positions will eventually blind these guards."_ he thought. "Now turn all the way around."

Blister frowned. "Like... _thissss?"_ she said, slightly annoyed. She turned all the way around, and a bright flash went into the guards eyes. Eagle felt their talons fall off their shoulders. "Now!" he screamed.

He and Appalachia darted to the sky. He heard wingbeats behind him, but he and Appalachia were SkyWings, the fastest fliers in the sky, and soon they outran Blister's guards. He and his friend were finally safe.

~~~~6 hours later~~~~

They were flying over the Mud Kingdom. Eagle decided to head back to the Sky Kingdom after that episode with Blister, and he took a wrong turn along the way, so now he was stuck in the Mud Kingdom.

"Ow!" Appalachia flinched, and she breathed heavily. Her wings were drooping and looked extremely tired.

"You okay?" he asked.

Appalachia gasped for air. "I-I'm fine." she panted.

"You sure?" Eagle pressured.

"Y-yeah." Her wings then gave way, letting her fall, and a horrible blackened gash revealed itself on Appalachia's side.

"APPALACHIA!" Eagle called. He quickly grabbed her and cradled her in his arms. "I'll get you to safety, I promise!" he said, panicking.

Later, he spotted a SandWing officer flying around, ordering the MudWings around and about. He quickly flew down and called out to him. "Excuse me, but can you help me?" he asked.

The officer gazed up to him. He had a scar on his left eye, and he wore a permanent scowl. "What do you want, lowborn?" he asked gruffly.

Eagle winced. Nobody had ever called him a lowborn, not ever. _"I would have sliced him with my knife, if it weren't for Appalachia here!"_ he thought. _"I was never insulted with such a "low" joke!"_ He snorted. "My SkyWing friend here was scratched by a SandWing. Can you help?" he asked.

The SandWing snorted. "You're lucky I bring Brightsting Cactus wherever I go." He pulled out a cactus from a side bag and squeezed some cactus juice into her wound. Her breathing slowed down. "How long has she been stabbed?" he asked.

"About 6 hours." Eagle answered.

The SandWing grimaced. "With a gash like that, she's going to be out for at least another week." he said.

Eagle lowered his head in shame. "Hey, my friend here is really interested in plants, could I have a cactus?" he asked.

The SandWing eyed him suspiciously. "How do I know you aren't a spy?" he asked.

Eagle smirked. _"Sometimes dragons don't know who to trust."_ he thought. "If you haven't noticed, the Sky Kingdom is in upheaval, with no queen. So right now, we're _obviously_ looking for leadership. So we would probably turn to Burn." _"He's on Burn's side, right? After all, he did help a SkyWing."_ he thought hopefully.

"Oh, alright." The SandWing held the cactus to Eagle, and Eagle revealed Appalachia's bag, and the SandWing placed the cactus in the bag. "Now be on your way, you never know when a fight's going to break out here. And if you meet my wife, tell her I love her."

"I'll make sure to do so." As Eagle turned around to fly away, the SandWing yelled one more thing.

"Her name is Cactus."

 **DUN DUN DUN! THE SUSPENSE! So anyway, what! The Emperor is posting 2 chapters in a row?! How is this possible? Well, right now it's the March Break, so I got nothing else to do. So...**

 **FANFICTION! And if you're wondering about my other fic, this fic is connected with it, like I said in the summary. So I was writing my other fic, and then this story just struck me. I wanted to add an OC (Eagle is my profile picture) and then I really wanted to make a backstory for him, because I really wanted to make him brilliant, but then arguments would come up because no one knew how he became so brilliant, and I also wanted to write a fic about my OC, so here we are! Killing two birds with one stone! And this fic is really fun to write too! So I will be consistently updating this story until I reach the point where Attack of the Scavengers is at, and then I will alternate in updates.**

 **PS: Yes, Eagle is the Pyrrhian Emperor.**

 **Mystic and Wonder,**

 **The Great And Honorable Emperor of Pyrrhia**


	3. Chapter 3: The Scavengers of Pyrrhia

Chapter 3: Scavengers of Pyrrhia

 _~~~~18 years ago~~~~_

 _Prince Shark walked along the pavilion, waiting for the council to arrive. What was taking them so long? Suddenly, a navy blue dragon thumped onto his pavilion. "What do you want?" he barked._

 _The SeaWing, clearly startled by Shark's rash approach, quickly flapped away without a word._

 _Shark groaned. He turned around, running right into a tan scavenger with some type of red and black armor right in front of him. He snarled at it, and it pulled out a long, curved, red stick, about twice the size of the scavenger, and it was up to his chest. It then lifted the object in an upright position. "What's that you got there?" he asked figuratively, genuinely curious. He poked the scavenger, and hit something hard._

 _Was that really armor? It seemed relatively uncomfortable, and it had a boxy shape at the torso. The side seemed spaced out and flexible, with big flaps on the sides. A sharp pain then hit him on the shoulder. "Ah!" he screamed. The scavenger then pulled out a long, curved scavenger claw. It attempted to chop at his arm, and missed as he pulled back. It went into a stance, and it was unlike any scavenger he had ever seen._

 _Another sharp pain struck his body. Then another hit him. And then another came. His head snapped around, and saw a small band of those scavengers, all holding those long, curved, red sticks. He took a look at his wounds. Something stuck out of it, like a tiny stick. He snarled at the scavenger, and dived at it. They nimbly dodged, and shot more of those vicious little sticks. He roared, and bit towards a scavenger, who was backed up against the edge of the pavilion. As he faced the scavenger, he saw something in its eyes that made him stop right in his tracks._

 _They were eerily like his eyes, gray and proud. The scavenger whipped out his scavenger claw and chopped, again and again, at Shark. The sudden actions were enough to snap him out of his remorse, and he swiped at the scavenger, which knocked it over. The scavenger stood up and the others quickly ran away. That one stood behind, as if to stand guard and let the others get away. He advanced on the lone scavenger, and it circled around him._

 _It then charged at Shark with its claw raised, ready to strike. Shark was ready. He nimbly jumped to the side, dodging the strike, and then the scavenger swung to the side. Shark quickly flapped his wings, taking to the air, and plucked off the scavenger's helmet. The helmet tasted of leather and metal, which was extremely unpleasant. It revealed the scavenger's face, a head that looked like mostly eyes, with a well-groomed, furry top. Shark bared his teeth at it, and it revealed two smaller claws, which it threw at Shark._

 _He dodged them, and he charged at the scavenger. It was expecting it. Shark crashed into the ground, and the scavenger lifted its claw above Shark, ready to strike. "This is it," thought Shark. "I die at the hands of a scavenger." He grimaced, only not to feel anything. He looked above himself, and saw the scavenger walk off him, and it bowed down to Shark, grabbed its helmet and put it on its head and walked away, running towards where its comrades went, and jumped down. Shark quickly ran over, and stopped himself. "Am I becoming fond of a scavenger?" he asked himself. Then again, the scavenger had spared his life, and he was curious as to why it jumped down the pavilion._

 _He poked his head out the edge of the pavilion. He saw a long rope falling down, and he saw the little scavenger squeal as it saw him. It lifted its little paw to cover its head, and when Shark did nothing, it continued to climb down the rope. He snorted. What a strange episode. He walked back towards the center of the pavilion, and saw his sister, the Queen, thump onto the pavilion, followed by a SandWing._

" _Shark, meet Queen Blister." she said. Shark snorted._

 _He bowed mockingly. "Hello, Blister."_

 _Blister narrowed her eyes at him. "_ _ **Queen**_ _Blister." She walked up to Shark, and rested her barbed tail on the back of his head. She whispered something into his ear._

" _Don't expect to live much longer if you continue like this. I expected better from you, but I predicted this nonetheless, and I predict a lot of suffering too. Let this be a lesson to you; in life, you must consider everything, from the worst to the best. Know how things work, how dragons think, and find how to put it in your favor, how to change the tide to your favor. And you better step in line, or_ _ **someone**_ _will be having an_ _ **accident."**_

~~~~Present time~~~~

Eagle sat in an infirmary, watching his friend sleep peacefully on a makeshift straw bed. She was stabbed, or rather, scraped, by a SandWing barb just 10 hours ago. It was the middle of the night, and he was still waiting. He was told it would take more than a week, but he insisted on staying. As he sat on a little bench in the infirmary, he saw a little scavenger scramble along. It seemed much smaller than the other scavengers he had seen; this one was at least 2 times smaller. It seemed to struggle to walk.

Another larger scavenger ran by, covered by cloths, and picked up the little scavenger. It squealed when it saw Eagle, and it hugged the tiny one, covering with its cloths. How cute. _"Now is a good time to take notes."_ he thought. He grabbed a scroll from his bag, and grabbed his feather pen as well.

" _Alright, it seems that scavengers are sensitive about their young. This is most fascinating."_ He thought _._ He scribbled some words on his scroll. _Scavengers seem to have a close relationship with their young. They are highly protective, and will protect them by covering them with their cloths. It may be a natural defense, unlike many theories which recognize scavengers as defenceless._ He poked the scavenger, and the scavenger seemed to shield the little one with its own body. But scavengers didn't care for its young that much, did they? _Another probably desperate defense is to cover their young with their own body, probably as to shield them from harm. This probably proves that scavengers are quite advanced, even as to share many different dragon-like characteristics other than in appearance, because dragons will risk their lives for their dragonets._

The scavenger quickly ran away, with its cloth still draped over the little one. _"Well, I guess that's the end of that._ " He rolled up his scroll and put it in the bag. He leaned his back to the wall of the infirmary, and slept, only to be greeted by a series of nightmares.

~~~~The Next Day, Rainforest Kingdom~~~~

Moonwatcher sat in the floor of the Rainforest, the rain pattering on the leaves of the massive canopy as she waited for her mother to return. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she begged for company. She put her head in the dirt, and another one of those nightmarish images flashed through her head.

She saw a massive gathering of red and orange dragons, all looking up to one standing on a raised surface. That one walked about that platform and started to say something. When that one finished speaking, the crowd exploded in an uproar, and then she returned to the real world. Something was strange about this image. Something told her that this would happen, one way or another. And something told her she would be regretting the day it came.

~~~~MudWing Infirmary~~~~

Eagle decided to take a walk around the Infirmary, and he brought his bag along with him. He took flight, and later, he saw a small, almost imperceptible, scavenger home hidden in the tall grass reveal itself. He flew down, fascinated by how scavengers would be able to get enough resources to survive in the Mud Kingdom. It could help the SkyWings create camps in the Mud Kingdom, and even create massive cities. As he flew down, a bunch of scavengers scrambled away, all wearing muddy-looking clothing.

When he landed, his talons sunk into the mud. The mud seemed to be arranged in large, flooded cubes from the sky, like they were growing something. He guessed he was in a farm, since some green stuff was growing in small rows in the flooded cubes, and he pulled out a scroll. He started drawing the farm. Between the many cubes that the crops were grown, there was a long row of thick, tall grass separating the flooded cubes. The farm blended quite well into the surrounding swamp, and he found out that the small scavenger house that he saw was made out of straw and mud. There were many scavengers bustling around this place, and he saw a few more small straw homes hidden in the undergrowth. Was this a scavenger den?

Some pointy thing hit his head, and saw that the scavengers had some torch objects in their little paws and the others had small claw spears. They charged at him, and Eagle took to the sky. Some more pointy things started hitting him, and he pulled out his scroll. _Scavengers living in the Mud Kingdom fiercely defend their scavenger dens, and they have a clever irrigation system which involves growing some type of grass in mud, with the plants half-submerged. This type of farming technique could help SkyWings and other civilizations to colonize the Mud Kingdom, that is, if the SkyWings are willing to eat plants, and probably would provide a good battlefront if the SkyWings were to declare war against the Mud Kingdom._

He rolled up his scroll, and realized that the scavengers were watching him in awe, and some of them went back to tending to their fields. They were no longer pelting him with sharp objects, now that they knew he was not here to hurt them. At least, that was what Eagle assumed. Maybe they just thought it was a lost cause. To test that theory, he landed down on the ground, and seemed to startle a few scavengers, who screeched and screamed as they ran. The scavengers that were left scattered and left.

Eagle snorted and went back to studying the irrigation system. He spotted a few cows walking along, dragging a scavenger behind it. He noticed a large metal object that the scavenger was standing on, and it was hooked on the cow. The scavenger was using some type of thing rope object to hit the cow, and it seemed to provoke the cow to continue moving.

He drew the thin rope object and the cow pulling the metal object, labeling the drawing according to what he thought the parts were supposed to be and what he thought they were made out of. As he finished, he heard a MudWing patrol above him, their wings breaking the quite silence that was so dominant when Eagle first landed. They called out to him, and Eagle quickly ducked into the undergrowth.

"SkyWing! Report your business at once!" a gruff voice demanded.

Eagle didn't say anything, and hoped that they wouldn't find him.

"Are those scavengers?" another feminine voice said.

"How should I know? I've never really been out of the village before..." the gruff voice answered. Their voices started getting louder, and Eagle started to breathe heavy.

"Please don't find me, please don't find me..." he whispered.

Suddenly, the tall grass that was covering him just moments ago was uprooted and a group of MudWings looked down at him.

"Just answer us and we won't report you." the gruff voice said.

Eagle tried to flinch away, only to fall into the mud. "Oof!" he said. "Alright, a friend of mine was scratched by a SandWing barb, and I was passing along here, so I got the help of a SandWing officer and now I'm waiting for her to get better!"

The gruff MudWing narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah, that seems like a likely story, don't you guys think? Yeah, I think I'll _let you go._ " he said sarcastically. One MudWing frowned at the MudWing.

Eagle then flinched as the MudWing said the last sentence Eagle heard before something hit his head and he lost consciousness.

"You're coming with us."

 **Ow! Anyway, next chapter Eagle will be at Queen Moorhen's palace! Also, the red, long sticks that Shark encountered were Yumi Bows, a Japanese bow, and the scavengers he faced were Samurai. Now you're going to be asking the question; why Japanese people? Well, first of all, I'm obsessed with the Japanese culture in Minecraft (don't ask me what mod it is), but now I'm banned. So that left an imprint in my mind, and I decided to make the dominant culture in the Sea Kingdom the Japanese, since they lived on the islands.**

 **Now this clashes with my Windmill concept last time, but then again, that wasn't that deep in SeaWing territory, right? Whatever, let's just say those were Vikings. I felt like putting Eagle in some more trouble, so now he's being shipped off to Queen Moorhen's palace! Who knows what will happen next! (PS: Eagle visited a rice paddy)**

 **Stay tuned,**

 **The Great and Honorable Emperor of Pyrrhia**


	4. Chapter 4: Attack of the Scavengers

Chapter 4: Attack of the Scavengers

Eagle woke up cradled in one of the MudWings' arms. "Whoa!" he yelled. "What are you doing with me?"

An angry-looking face stared at Eagle, and Eagle shrunk backwards. "I'm guessing you can guess." His head moved to reveal a massive palace, surrounded by muddy swamps and drooping trees. He saw a flight of SkyWings, escorted by some MudWings out of the area. He then saw another flight of MudWings fly over to him. His group of MudWings said a few words with them, and then the MudWings told him to follow the flight that just came.

Eagle blinked. "What do you people want?" he asked.

A regal-looking MudWing flew towards Eagle, and all the other MudWings parted to let him pass by. The MudWing that was holding Eagle let him go, and Eagle stared into his eyes challengingly.

The MudWing kept his serious face. "Are you the poor victim that I sent my soldiers to randomly choose?"

"What do you mean? What poor victim?" he asked. _"I never did anything to betray the SkyWings! And I did nothing against the MudWings either! Well, I guess there's my scroll, but..."_ he thought.

The MudWing sighed and broke Eagle's train of thought. "I'll give you a clue. If you get it from this clue, I'll congratulate you and give you a cow before the inevitable happens. If you don't get it, then you don't get a cow." he said, trying to break the solemn atmosphere. Instead, he got an awkward silence.

"Okay?" Eagle said, finally breaking the silence.

"Alright," the MudWing said. "Taxes and Knives, Guts and gore. By the one who Burns, she will claim what she demands."

Eagle thought for a moment. _"Taxes and knives. That doesn't make sense! Taxes and knives have nothing in common! Knives are for killing, and taxes are tributes to the Kingdom! Unless, the tribute to the Kingdom is a weapon! Burn demands something... well, I know Burn wants the SandWing throne, and she likes... creepy stuffed things... stuffed things... taxidermy! It involves knives and has the word tax! And Burn likes creepy stuffed things... wait a minute, I look weird!"_ The answer suddenly came to Eagle.

"YOU'RE GOING TO STUFF ME AND KILL ME?!" Eagle screamed.

The MudWing nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, but it's an order from Queen Moorhen."

Eagle shook his head. "No. No! The SkyWings won't do anything like that! The entire Sky Kingdom is in anarchy! We can't even take care of ourselves! How do expect us to attack you?" he asked.

The MudWing shrugged. "I don't know. But like I said, it's Moorhen's orders. So, it's an order from the Queen Herself." he said.

Eagle started to cry. "No! How did you get this order?" he said through gritted teeth.

"We got it through a note." He held out an official-looking document calling for his execution.

Eagle stopped crying, and he narrowed his eyes at the document. Something wasn't right. He had seen Moorhen's documents before; his dad was Scarlet's most powerful and most diplomatic commander. He was both a diplomat and a general, and that was what made him so formidable. He was also a great dad. Eagle blinked away the re-emerging tears on his eyes, and went back to thinking about Moorhen's documents. The signature seemed to be blurred. Moorhen always had an iconic clawprint on her documents. This document's clawprint seemed blurred. Almost as if... almost as if it was painted on! "This is a forgery!" Eagle declared. "It's all a lie. I know Moorhen's documents-"

" _ **Queen**_ Moorhen." one MudWing piped up.

"Alright then, we'll call her _**Queen**_ Moorhen." Eagle said, annoyed. "Anyway, _**Queen**_ Moorhen always has a huge and iconic clawprint on all of her official orders and documents. My father was a commander for Queen Scarlet. This document, this very document here, has a forged signature." He pointed to the painted clawprint. "This, this horrible clawprint, was painted on."

He heard a few gasps, and a MudWing nodded. "Alright, I believe you. But my superiors won't."

Eagle grinned. "If your superiors disagree, tell them to talk to Queen Moorhen about this particular order." he said challengingly. He puffed out his chest and put his talons behind his back, his wings flapping calmly in the light breeze, and his tail swished from side to side. He suddenly realized his position was quite unnatural, and mostly proud, so he quickly got back down into a low position and blushed, embarrassed.

The MudWings snorted. Eagle quickly flapped over to the huge MudWings, and he grinned sheepishly to the leading MudWing. He rolled his eyes, and started talking again. "Why do you think anyone would want to forge Moorhen's documents?" he asked suspiciously.

"It's probably someone that wants me dead. Maybe it's Burn?" he suggested.

The MudWing shook his head. "It's probably not. She has enough on her claws to keep her busy for her entire rule. And now with the massive SkyWing anarchy, she has even more on her claws." the MudWing answered.

"Well, whoever it is, it doesn't matter now." Eagle said. "Now I'll be leaving, so don't try to stop me."

"Wait!" the MudWing cried. "How am I going to explain how I lost you?" he asked.

Eagle shrugged. "Tell them the note was a forgery." He then flapped away into the distance.

"Farewell." The MudWing said quietly.

~~~~6 days later~~~~

Appalachia woke up in a jolt. She remembered a horrible pain at her side, and more pain was wracking her body now. She also remembered being carried somewhere. She looked around, and saw Eagle grinning at her on a bench nearby.

"Appalachia, you're alive!" Eagle said happily. He embraced her in a hug.

"Yeah I'm alive, you silly oaf." she said playfully. "Ow, how long have I been out?" she asked.

Eagle's grin faltered. "Uh, you've sort of been out for a week..."

"WHAT?!" she screamed. "Wait, I've been knocked out for a week? That's... long."

Eagle nodded. "Wait, I got you something." He grabbed Appalachia's bag and showed her the cactus inside.

"Whoa, is that dragonflame cactus?" she asked in awe.

Eagle chuckled. "No! It's Brightsting, and it's what saved your life."

"Cool!" she said, and smiled at Eagle, which made both of them blush.

"Uh... okay." he said. "I-I'm happy you like it, so um..."

He was interrupted when a MudWing ran down the hall, screaming something. "There has been a cease in hostilities, and the war is over!" she cheered.

Eagle shuffled his feet. "So... what do you want to do now?" he asked.

Appalachia grinned at him. "Well, honestly, I don't know." She slowly pressed her snout against Eagle's snout, embracing him in a hug. The second it happened, Eagle was sure of one thing; they were destined for greatness.

~~~~3 years later~~~~

Appalachia and Eagle moved to a secluded island in the middle of the Bay of A Thousand Scales, and they decided to make that scavenger building. After vigorous testing, they finally found how to replicate how the building worked, and they created some squishy substance after they took crushed wheat and added water; they called it dough. One day, while they were pondering what to do with it, Appalachia accidentally set it on fire, and Eagle absent-mindedly chewed it afterwards, which was how bread was discovered.

They showed their invention to the world, though it wasn't such an important discovery anyway. It did, however, open new possibilities for feeding large dragon populations. Soon, their little invention became a staple, and their little scavenger buildings were soon popping all over the place, by the order of the queens. But all changed when the scavengers attacked. Huge metal bowls piloted by scavengers attacked their quaint little island, and scavengers swarmed everywhere. Dragons were dying, and there was a rumor that the scavengers themselves were clashing.

But Eagle had the great fortune to find an abandoned metal scavenger bowl, and found so many new things. And he finally invented something that would change all of Pyrrhia: The Dragon Gun, abbreviation as DG, which would change everything. He also found new formulas to calculate a new concept he created; buoyancy. Soon, he used the scavengers' technology and devised methods of creating them himself. He had learned so much from it. He learned that some things were naturally restricted, and that some things even had defined patterns that one could define the result. It was so much to take in; he wasn't sure if he should reveal his inventions to the world. He was able to create a massive researching facility with Appalachia and some 400 helpers sent by Queen Coral, and soon they were finding so many concepts so fast, from photons to light beams to nuclear science, that they were revolutionizing dragonkind. They had massive tesla coils surrounding their labs, powering their huge contraptions, and they were testing theories from here and about. They discovered more about scavenger culture than they would ever need, and found new ways of government.

He taught himself how to read scavenger and found that scavengers had different types of ways to record things. He found that they had a massive database that they transmitted from place to place. Soon, dragon Queens started to ask him for his technology, and Pyrrhia was holding.

Finally, he set sail from his secluded base, and headed for the mainland, wearing a black and white formal coat. Appalachia was wearing a beautiful dress decorated with flowering and flowing designs. She smiled at Eagle, and he smiled back. The massive cannons behind him rotated and turned, pointing in all directions. He was surprised; Queen Coral had sent him support to help him in his studies. He was truly getting nowhere, and he would've gotten nowhere had it not been for Coral's brilliant SeaWings. Those 400 had truly revolutionized both dragonkind and his life.

After many hours of sailing, they finally reached the mainland, and they fired at the scavengers who had built a dock for their own ships. They quickly ran away, screaming and hollering. When Eagle's ship finally docked, the scavenger base was in smithereens with Eagle's massive cannons pelting it. As Her Majesty Queen Coral I's army ran out of the ship, carrying his DG-79 rifles, he saw the massive rumble of tanks come into play in the distance. The scavengers were attacking, and he wasn't afraid. It sounded so wrong, yet so right. He detested all those years that he spent studying scavengers; he had learnt more in these three years studying this scavenger ship which revealed both scavenger society and weaponry than what he had learned from studying Pyrrhian scavengers in six years!

He curled his talons and gritted his teeth. How he wished he could do his life all again. But whatever. He knew he was right. The poor civilians were clashing in such a horrible war, but he would bring them out of it. He would grant rights and power to all of the civilians of Pyrrhia. He would show Pyrrhia how dragons should let civilians to vote for what they want to do with their taxes. He would show them that the Pyrrhian system was corrupt. And he would become the most influential dragon on Pyrrhia.

 **OOH! SO DARK... Anyway, if you think I did this too quickly, please tell. This might be a REALLY rapid turn of events. From inventing bread to becoming the most influential dragon of Pyrrhia... yeah, you could imagine. Anyway, now Eagle is a democrat! Yeah, that's right. Anyway, his thoughts are starting to slide, and he's falling to the dark side. DUN DUN DUN! What happens next is simple; I continue doing "Attack of the Scavengers" which continues with this story's timeline, so therefore that story would also jump to the same time period as this story. And then "Attack of the Scavengers" will end, and this will be the sequel! You see what I mean when I said this was the Sequel and Prequel? Yeah, I know, I'm a genius. No, no, calm down with the praise, I know I'm awesome, settle down. Okay. Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to write another story which has something to do with food... (tee hee hee...)**


End file.
